Bolton Wanderers fan column: Arsenal trip and Crawley test

Whenever I tell people that I’m a Bolton Wanderers fan, the response I always get (besides the obvious "you don’t sound like you’re from Bolton") is always something along the lines of “oh yeah, I remember your good old days… Jay-Jay Okocha, wasn’t it?”

Having conversations with fans of other teams is like hopping in a time machine – one with a bumpy landing that never fails to kick you in the teeth. As if the blast to the past wasn’t bad enough, the question that follows is always something along the lines of “geez, what happened to you guys?”

I don’t blame them for asking. Even with a vivid recollection of the 2010s, I occasionally find myself drifting back to memories of the Allardyce years and the feeling of being amongst the greats.

Still, maybe I should blame them. The question itself is a symptom of the limited lens of the Premier League. Since our last game in the top tier, the gulf between the Premier League and League One – even the Championship – has widened only further, leaving fans looking through a telescope backwards, watching other teams get ever smaller and less significant. Arsenal have the perfect vantage point, but a distorted world view has left seemingly left some of them unable to comprehend the magnitude of the difference in quality.

Regardless, 5-1 is not the score line I wanted to see on Wednesday. However, I don’t think it’s the ‘thrashing’ that people want us to believe it is. Nor do I think it is the crushing defeat I was envisioning on my way to the Emirates Stadium. That’s a controversial assessment, I know, and stupid: 5-1 is, of course, a crushing defeat. It’s also a defeat that could happen in a league game.

If you’d have told me at the beginning of the season that we’d have the same goal difference between Huddersfield and Arsenal, I’d have immediately called your bluff. More so, if you’d have told me that Arsenal were still locked and loaded with key players Saka, Rice, Sterling, Havertz etc. Okay, they had a 16 year-old in goal but the disparity between the teams is undeniable. Yet still, with penalties given and chances put away, we could have witnessed something quite magical. At least we put up a fight.

What we’ve got to do now is take our eyes away from the telescope – away from the distorted view of the opposition – and turn around to look at ourselves. Arsenal have gifted us a magnifying glass to scrutinise our own shortcomings. Where League One opposition might fail to capitalise, Arsenal punished us for mistakes, making them glaringly obvious – an outcome that may reward us should we review what went wrong. 

Of course, with this tool, we can also magnify our strengths (that McAtee assist and Collins goal were sublime), but we must recognise and address our careless mistakes to return to the league stronger.

Silent majority must raise their voices

By Lee Sidebotham

Wanderers applaud the fans after Reading (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker)

From minute one, you could already tell we weren’t coming out of the Reading game without three points.

Where has this attitude been so far this season? I think the crowd played a massive part in the victory too. Coming into the game I was extremely worried that the atmosphere was going to be as hostile as it was at the end of the Huddersfield game last week. But to my surprise I was proved wrong.

Apart from that 'Evatt Out' banner in the North Stand, that is. Don’t get me wrong, anyone who pays for their ticket has the right to voice their opinion. But if those fans were looking over to the West Stand Lower, let’s just say they would have seen exactly what we thought about their protest.

Perhaps a lot of unnecessary things that had been said and posted online during the last week brought everyone together and compelled us all to get behind Evatt and the lads. It just proves how big the silent majority is.

I think it also goes to show how much affect crowds have on the performances of the team. It’s bigger than we think, especially when that atmosphere is highly negative.

Perhaps it’s at the route of why sometimes we just can’t seem to find momentum in games. I’m not suggesting for a second it’s always the reason why we lose or play poorly, but I think it bears looking at why sometimes we just can’t seem to get back into winnable games.

It could also be the reason why we don’t show up on community days, with the general great atmosphere and chanting during the game drowned out. Or maybe that’s just me and my opinion as I hate family fun days!

This is exactly what Evatt was talking about the other week. He took some major backlash after speaking about the fans, which I believe many took the wrong way. Words can easily be misinterpreted, and I think I finally truly understand what he meant.

He’s not blaming us for the players not performing, but rather stating we’re not helping ourselves with hostile and intimidating atmospheres. He wants us to give the lads that extra confidence boost when they need it, and all we do is make it harder when we don’t back them. Especially we’re on the back foot during a game when they need it the most.

We’ve got a real opportunity in the next run of fixtures to climb back up the table and catch the promotion chasing pack. I’m sure Evatt and the players know what they need to do. We now just need to play our part.

Adeboyejo key for Wanderers

by James Scott

Victor Adeboyejo scored with his first touch of the season, but only started for the first time against Reading on Saturday, as Ian Evatt reverted back to last season’s formation. In a bid to regather some momentum for Wanderers, the tried and tested strike partnership of Adeboyejo and Dion Charles was reused with great success.

Charles received the majority of the plaudits, and rightfully so, because he took home the match ball. But Adeboyejo’s relentless harrying of the Reading backline and much improved holdup play gave Bolton a different option in attack. He won a penalty and opened up opportunities for the wing-backs, especially for Dacres-Cogley on the right.

Having tried starting Collins, Charles and McAtee in the same formation, Evatt must now realise that having three similar players to do one job in the line-up is unsustainable. Bolton had been very poor going forward until Saturday, and too often Adeboyejo has been thrown into a losing cause at halftime to try and salvage something.

When starting up front with Charles, the pair bring out the best in each other. Charles’ relentless energy and link up play is backed up by Adeboyejo’s ability to shield the ball and knowledge of Charles’ game. Certain moments from the Reading game brought back memories of arguably the pair’s best game together, where they tore Cheltenham to shreds last season in the first 30 minutes.

The combination of Charles and Adeboyejo also allows Bolton to bring on a completely new dynamic off the bench. Both McAtee and Collins impressed as a pair against Arsenal, with McAtee providing the link-up to the waspish Collins, who got his reward with a trademark sublime finish. As a pair, they also looked good together, potentially providing Ian Evatt with some selection headaches over the next few weeks.

Over the course of the 46 games, McAtee and Collins will have very large parts to play for a Bolton side looking to climb the table after a horror start to the season. With so many points left to play for, injuries and form will play a huge part.

However, for now, Evatt must see the value in playing Adeboyejo and Charles together, and especially in having another option to move up the pitch with Adeboyejo’s stature. Having played together since January 2023, the knowledge of each other’s games is such a valuable asset to the team. In a week of tricky away games which are both must win for Bolton, having the experience to fall back on is crucial.

The Reading game was nothing more than a welcome start for Bolton, but there were glimmers of hope that improvements are on the way for Wanderers. The strike partnership was definitely one of them.

Bolton's page-turner continues

by Chris McKeown

Josh Sheehan curls home a free kick (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker)

How good did Saturday feel? The baron run of goalless games came to an end, and in some style too.

It was undoubtedly a tough week leading up to the match for the supporters and possibly even more so for Ian Evatt.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but it did feel like it was a game that needed to be won, the morale was desperate for a small taste of success. Thankfully, BWFC delivered.

Changing style and reverting to what we know best seemed to pay off from the kick-off. The free-kick from Josh Sheehan to make it 1-0 was celebrated like a cup final winning goal - to say it had been long awaited is an understatement!

We looked much more assured going forward and Dion Charles was back to his menacing best, (ably supported by the fantastic Vic Adeboyejo). The move for his open play goal was great on the eye and his penalties were hit with total conviction.

At the back, we still looked a little unsure at times and I suppose that’s understandable considering confidence must’ve been in short supply in recent weeks. This will hopefully fully return in time, if we continue to play like we did and find our feet, so to speak.

The Reading goal temporally give them a boost and for a period after, we did look a touch vulnerable but we rode out the storm and the penalty just before the break certainly calmed any nerves.

The second half played out with a comfortable two-goal lead for the most part, Bolton looking almost stuck between sticking with what we had and seeking the goal to finish them off.

The last 15 minutes or so of the match, with fresh legs on the pitch, we put them under lots of pressure and thoroughly deserved the fifth goal. Job done! 

With the questions over a 'Plan B' still in the air, I do believe with the options on the bench (hopefully to be added to with injured players returning very soon), we can have those alternatives to change the game up, if and when called for.

The rest, as they say, is still unwritten but with a ray of light coming last Saturday, perhaps the page was turned? The rest of this chapter up to the next international break must continue in the same manner.

If Evatt can turn this around then who knows, by the time we’ve played Shrewsbury, the discontent and unease of previous weeks might be replaced by the joy of being back in the promotion race? Wouldn’t that be a novel idea!

Tweak gets best out of Sheehan

by Liam Hatton

It could be argued that last Saturday’s game against Reading was the biggest during Ian Evatt’s four-plus year spell as Bolton Wanderers manager. Coming off the back of a heavy defeat against Huddersfield Town a week prior, a huge response was needed.

A return to the 3-5-2 formation was made with Victor Adeboyejo and Dion Charles starting up front, alongside a midfield trio of Jay Matete, Josh Sheehan and newly-crowned captain George Thomason.

It signalled a departure from the trio of strikers Evatt had utilised earlier in the season and, whilst Reading may not be an accurate measuring stick in terms of signalling if the formation can mark a return to winning ways on a regular basis, it does seem to be the best course of action right now.

Sheehan opened the scoring with a marvellous free kick. When you think about the 3-4-3 formation and how it had effectively made the Welshman null and void, you begin to realise why it was not working.

Sheehan was Bolton’s Player of the Season last year so any Wanderers team with him not in the starting line-up is worse for it, in my opinion. Sheehan is too good to leave out in order to get more forwards on the pitch and Saturday showed how good he is - like we even needed reminding in the first place.

Dion was standard Dion, with his hat-trick now taking him to four league goals for the season, which is joint second across the whole of League One. It really does seem prudent for Dion to play alongside a bigger striker, but then you have the headache of what to do with Aaron Collins and John McAtee.

Right now, Evatt cannot worry about pleasing all of his strikers, he simply needs to do what is best for the team. Having someone like Adeboyejo who can hold the ball up and draw attention due to his size seems to be the play.

The win was the main thing and it was a good performance, with obvious parts to improve on. Defensively, Bolton still look suspect at times and their record at the back is not trending in a positive trajectory.

That leads us on to the 5-1 defeat to Arsenal in midweek. Now, there seemed to be a lot of harsh criticism directed at Bolton on social media (shocker), but it is worth taking into account the level of opposition.

Yes, errors were made at the back and Bolton contributed to their own downfall. Defensively, they need to be more assured and cut down on the mistakes. But if they continue to play out from the back against one of the best teams in the country, there is no chance Evatt is going to stop that style of play at this point.

We already knew that, so get used to it. It will mean, like the infamous goal against Huddersfield, that some errors will happen but if Wanderers can cut down on those defensive lapses, it will make their lives so much easier.

The stretch of games coming up are winnable and it means Bolton can head further up the league with a few wins, but there need to be signs of continued improvement. The season is far from lost, but now is the time to put up or shut up.